An accelerated timeline, announced yesterday, for major roads and other improvements in Kapolei should ease traffic for frustrated west O'ahu motorists and add to the appeal of the area for prospective businesses.

Roger Lyons, a commercial real estate broker and vice president of CB Richard Ellis who represents a number of national retailers currently negotiating for new store locations in the area, said Kapolei has come a long way from 15 years ago, when he drove prospective tenants past cane fields to get to the then-undeveloped Kapolei Shopping Center.

"In my opinion, the best is yet to come in terms of shopping development for Kapolei, and these infrastructure improvements are vital for those projects," Lyons said.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann and representatives of the Kapolei Property Development Co. yesterday announced that they are working together to speed up the development of approximately $172 million in major roads and other infrastructure. The projects should be completed by 2012 instead of 2015 as originally planned.

Hannemann called the project "the largest private-sector-funded public infrastructure initiative" in the history of the state.

Kapolei Property Development was already required to pay for the improvements as part of its share of the cost of public facilities for the area. The company is a subsidiary of the James Campbell Co. LLC, the successor company to the Estate of James Campbell, the major landowner, master planner and developer of the Kapolei area. In all, the company has invested some $381 million in public facilities there.

Many of the upcoming improvements are eyed for the undeveloped, makai portions of the urban core of Kapolei. Speeding up those improvements will go a long way toward tying together the various strands of completed, future and as yet unplanned developments.

David Rae, senior vice president of development for Kapolei Property Development, said traffic has been a major source of frustration for residents, workers and those doing business in the area.

"We opened our office building here in 1993 and there was a road, and that was it," Rae said. "There was no traffic problem because there was no place to go to. In the intervening years, 600 businesses and 25,000 employees now call Kapolei their daytime home. We recognize that there has been some growing pains and we recognize that the roads and the infrastructure have not kept up with that. In partnership with the mayor and the city, we intend to make that right."

TO EASE TRAFFIC

The projects will be moved forward thanks to expedited third-party reviews of permit applications. That allows the developer to hire qualified experts to review portions of subdivision and other applications before the city, thus speeding up the often lengthy permit process, the mayor said.

Rae said the new roads through the center of town are important because "they will provide a grid and redundant system for traffic, which will relieve traffic throughout the entire area."

Meanwhile, the widening of Kalaeloa Boulevard to six lanes heading in and out of Campbell Industrial Park; Kapolei Parkway and Kamokila Boulevard extensions; and modifications at the intersection of Makakilo Drive and Farrington Highway will work in tandem with a string of highway improvements being provided by the state such as the upcoming North-South Road, East-West connector road and Fort Barrette Road widening, Rae said.

Much of the traffic, he said, is caused by people hopping among 'Ewa Beach, Wai'anae, Campbell Industrial Park, Makakilo and Kapolei, he said.

Others also applauded the road improvements.

"This is going to alleviate a lot of the frustration and anger that has been kind of seething in the community in terms of traffic congestion," said state Sen. Mike Gabbard, R-19th (Kapolei, Makakilo, Waikele).

PERMIT PROCESS

Steven Sofos, president and principal broker for Sofos Realty, which is a leasing agent for several Kapolei properties and also represents Costco in its venture in Kapolei, said "anything that the city does to try to speed up the building process is great."

He added: "All these new roads are going to take the pressure off of the H-1 and other feeder roads in Kapolei."

Sofos, however, said that some of his clients have experienced delays in the permitting pipeline even when using the third-party review process.

"They have to have somebody at the city check those plans at some point because there's a liability issue," he said, and a shortage of plan checkers has resulted in a clog in the system.

Sofos said the city shrank the permitting staff when it was facing economic difficulties and is having a difficult time hiring people in those positions now that the economy is better and the city is competing with the private sector for qualified planners.

TRANSIT CENTER

Kapolei Property Development also announced yesterday the speeding up of the conveyance of 5.3 acres of land across from Kapolei Hale to be the future site of the Kapolei bus and mass transit facility.

The site is bordered by Kapolei Parkway, and Kama'aha and Ulu'ohia streets.

Former Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board chairwoman Maeda Timson said she was ecstatic to hear that the improvements will be speeded up but is most delighted that the transit station plans are solidifying.

"That's really a good one," Timson said, adding that she and others have not yet given up on the notion of including Kapolei as part of the first segment of the proposed multibillion-dollar fixed guideway mass transit system. The transit plan approved by the City Council earlier this year calls for the west end of the initial route to be at the new campus of the University of Hawai'i-West O'ahu between 'Ewa and Kapolei.

"Maybe we can bring the future faster," Timson said.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.